Ojore was at the door as usual, and he inclined his head to Sarah and her party. "Your majesties," he said quietly. "Be welcome. Alix expects you in her office; the buffet is laid out in the hall outside it."

Sarah thanked him, Jareth nodded regally, and Toby muttered, "I don't know if I can get used to people calling my nerdy big sister 'your majesty'. What a trip."

Neesk uncoiled himself from her neck and stretched, sniffing. "Lunch?"

That got a chuckle from Sarah, before she remembered the gustatory habits of goblins in general. Neesk had been well-behaved on the picnic lunch with Thiel and Della, but the savory smells drifting to Sarah's nose were much more tempting. "Yes, just please don't dive face-first into the food, okay? I'll make you a plate if you want."

The little goblin chattered happily, but clung to Sarah's shoulder as they mounted the stairs. She could hear lively conversation and laughter above, something that echoed her own workplace luncheons. It was the sound of people who came together for a purpose, who fit well together as a team, and who shared their accomplishments and their challenges readily. Having met several of them the night before her coronation, and having felt Alix's pride in them when she mingled her magic with the dryad's, she knew they were a good crew, and that hastened her steps to join them.

What Sarah hadn't expected was the way the conversation halted when she and Jareth stepped into view. And her heart lurched up into her throat again when all of them, even Colleen in her wheelchair, bowed solemnly. For an instant, Sarah felt despair.

Only last night she had been radiant in her nascent royalty, standing on a raised dais and looking down upon all those who were not officials in her kingdom. The power, and the responsibilities that came with it, had felt so right that her life here had briefly seemed a shadow. But now, oh, now she was in her city, the one where she lived and worked as just another cog in the giant, hungry, never-ending machine that was New York, and people she thought of as friends were bowing to her. It was well enough for Jareth's people to fawn over her, but her own? That made her sick.

Jareth bowed back, and Sarah did the same, knowing not to argue after their first meeting with Alix that day. It didn't wipe the stricken look off her face, though. She had to wait for Alix to smile, and say in quite informal tones, "That is all the recognition you get Above, I'm afraid."

"And all we'd ever ask," Sarah shot back, relieved.

"Speak for yourself," Jareth muttered, and she glared at him, and there was enough comedic commonality in their exchange of stares to win laughter from the urban fae.

Alix, meanwhile, took a slight step forward. "My people, I give you King Jareth and Queen Sarai of Umardelin, with the royal page Neesk and the queen's brother, Toby Williams. Pray leave some food for them, if you will?"

It was up to Colleen to joke, catching Sarah's eye with a grin, "Don't make any bets on the mahi mahi, I warn you. That is all mine. I'm not even sharing with you, Alix."

Today's catered lunch looked like someone had raided a taco truck – a really good taco truck, by the scent – and Sarah eyed the grilled mahi appreciatively. Before she could challenge the merrow's claim, Alix said dryly, "No need to be so defensive. I don't eat fish – as you very well know."

The double meaning – from a lesbian to a mermaid – hit Sarah just as the rest burst into laughter, and even Colleen shook her head and chuckled at her own expense. "I set you up for that, more fool me."

"Never thought you'd be playing my straight man, but it's a strange world we live in," Alix shot back. "Sarah, try the carnitas. Best in the city. I have a deal with this vendor – I keep him in fresh limes and cilantro, even in January, and he brings us lunch every so often."

Sarah tucked in gladly, the tantalizing aromas making her mouth water. She might've thought Jareth would need help navigating a build-your-own-taco bar, but he handled it with aplomb, taking his cues from the rest. There were no stiff manners on display; apparently if Alix could make risque jokes in front of the royals, everyone else could relax. And again, Sarah was certain the savvy dryad had arranged it just so.

They all rubbed elbows in a friendly mob, until Sarah's party adjourned to Alix's office. Sarah carried a plate of carnitas for herself, and a second plate with a little of everything for Neesk, who bounced atop a cabinet and chittered with glee when Sarah passed him the plate. Toby, too, had sampled all the meats, Colleen even making a show of graciously allowing him some of the fish. Jareth stuck to carnitas, like Sarah and Alix.

Though Toby noticed, and as they were pulling up chairs around Alix's desk, he said, "Can I ask you a weird question?"

"You can ask anything you like," Alix replied easily.

"You're a dryad, right? Why aren't you a vegetarian?" It was so clearly honest curiosity that no one could possibly take offense.

Sarah wanted to elbow him, still, but Alix just grinned. "And consume only the corpses of my kin? Everything feeds the earth eventually, Toby. Plant, animal, fungi, I can draw my strength from it all. And if you're ever in a garden center, note that you will find both blood and bone meal in the aisle with the fertilizers."

"Gross, but cool," Toby said. "I guess it's weirder that your mermaid is eating fish, then."

"Most fish eat other fish, sometimes even the young of their own kind. The ocean food chain is ruthless. And Colleen is a merrow, the specifically Irish Celtic flavor of mermaid," Alix told him. "She takes some offense to being called mermaid. Were I as technical, I'd insist on being called hamadryad, for I am bound to my tree as some other dryads are not."

"The niceties of Greco-Roman mythology," Jareth mused. "We are fortunate that you are not a maenad."

Alix scoffed. "A maenad is a state of being, not a race. There were even mortal maenads, who learned most painfully not to mock the gods. The first maenads were nymphs, though, yes." She smirked. "In other words, a maenad is just a dryad who happens to be an angry drunk."

Toby cocked his head, interested. "I read some of those mythology books Sarah brought home from the library, but I'm starting to think I should've read more. I still have a few of them at home. After dinner, Sarah, we can look up half your new friends." He just shook his head at what a mind trip that thought was.

"You better still have my Bullfinch's," she warned.

Jareth chose that moment to say to Toby, "Since you are so curious, was that introduction upstairs a sufficient answer to your other question?"

"What question?" Sarah asked, curious.

Toby rolled his eyes, and Jareth answered, "He had asked if all fae women were, and I quote, 'ridiculously hot'. Right after meeting Alix, I should add."

Toby and Sarah both kicked him in the shins, and Alix took her mirrored sunglasses off, revealing her caprine eyes. To Toby's credit, he didn't shy away. "Sorry, kid, I don't swing your way," she said lightly, taking the sting out of it.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Toby protested. "I just wanted to know if that's part of being fae, y'know? We saw a lot of high fae at the coronation, but they're mostly only one kind of fae. You've got lots of different kinds, and they're all gorgeous."

"We are an attractive people," Jareth said, smirking. "It is not only the women who are devastatingly beautiful, after all. Not that I expect you to properly appreciate that, Toby."

The boy rolled his eyes as only a fifteen-year-old could, and Sarah just sighed. "It looks like a case of really hot, or really not. The ones who look close to human are attractive, but not everyone fits our human standards of beauty. According to King Know-It-All there, some of the fae races who don't look at all human are as unaffected by us as we are by dragonflies."

"Quite true," Alix put in, squeezing a wedge of lime over her taco. "Most of my people are close to human. If you'd met the grindylow who lives in this city, Toby, I doubt you'd find her attractive. And you know the goblins and trolls are fae as well."

"Good point," he said, and applied himself to his food.

"Standards of beauty vary," Jareth said, subtly watching and mimicking everyone else as he rolled up his own tortilla. "Take the dwarves, for instance. Sarah, your pet gardener is considered homely by his own kind, for he has insufficient blemishes. That race of dwarf cherishes the warts and bumps and boils the rest of us are horrified by."

Sarah glared at him. "Don't be a dick, Jareth."

Toby swallowed a bite of taco to add, "In his usual pants, how can he be anything else?"

"I had no idea you were paying such close attention," Jareth shot back, then looked at Sarah. "I cannot lie. I am not disparaging Hoggle simply for amusement. That is what his race celebrates, and they find him lacking. Not that he particularly cares, being both a confirmed bachelor and rather antisocial." Sarah frowned; Hoggle may not have been particularly handsome in the traditional sense, but she still bridled at the notion of anyone calling any of her friends ugly.

"Still, there are some races who don't find each other attractive," Alix pointed out. "The whole class of nereids tend to have males who look more like the fish part of their nature. Not that I find any man attractive, but mermen are especially unsavory. Your average mermaid or merrow would rather seduce a human than one of her own kind."

"Is that why we have legends about mermaids singing to sailors?" Toby asked.

"Well, that, and the desperation of men at sea," Alix said. "They would see a beautiful woman in almost anything, even a seal. Six months surrounded by rough sailors tends to lower one's standards significantly."

"Yep, not joining the Navy," Toby chuckled. "Unlike my sister's boyfriend, who'd have the time of his life. You pretty much made it clear you swing every way, Jareth. Your ex-boyfriend seems cool, though."

"Thorvald was more friend with benefits, but he is a superlative example of a man. And a very good friend, which is most important," Jareth replied.

Alix neatly polished off her first taco, and then looked speculative. "Since we are apparently exploring the topic today, Umardelin has a lot of sports, doesn't it? How do they get along in the game of love?"

Toby cocked his head. "Sports?"

Jareth answered, "One-offs, creatures born of magic. Like my chef, and Sarah's fox knight. They have no true complement in the world. For Sir Didymus, he has chosen chivalric chastity, while the stag managed to woo a human lover."

Toby frowned a little, and voiced the thought that had lurked in Sarah's head since she'd first heard what Didymus was. "Can't you make another like them?"

Jareth scoffed. "I do not have the power to create an intelligent being from pure magic. Umardelin can do that, but only in response to a runner. Or a child – Sir Didymus was spawned by a young girl so frightened of the goblins that Umardelin created a more cuddly companion for her."

Sarah was taken aback by that, her heart contracting painfully. "No wonder he's so … him. Endlessly brave and loyal. God, he must've been heartbroken when that girl left."

"Why do you think I knighted him and gave him a sacred duty?" Jareth replied.

"Goddammit, you stuck him out in the bog after that? By himself with only Ambrosius? That was you? You're such an ass!" Sarah replied, her glare full of her utter disbelief. "I know he can't smell it, but still, Jareth."

He'd been forced to eat daintily, not having any prior experience with tortillas, and Jareth took the opportunity to set his taco down and give her a remonstrating look. "I tried keeping him in the castle, but he picked too many fights with my goblin guards. Any post had to be a lonely one, and fortunately he has the strength of spirit to take such an assignment gladly."

Though the picture it gave was terribly amusing, it didn't quell Sarah's indignation. "Yeah, well, he's the Queensguard now, you won't be exiling him back to the bog no matter what," Sarah shot back.

"Nor will there be a need to. He will do as you ask – it is his nature, brought into existence by a maiden's need. Sarah, speak not of this to him. Sports do not know from whence they came. They arrive in the world full-grown, without memory but with purpose. Making them reflect on it, forcing them to realize they are born of magic and have no kin or kind, only causes them dismay. And while Didymus may not be quite as destructive in his realization as Beldych was, I do not wish to hurt him."

Just the thought of what that might have done to their kind chef broke Sarah's heart. No one deserved that; no one. She shook her head resolutely, feeling pained at the possibility. "No, I'd never. Truth is usually best, but not when it can only harm."

Jareth nodded. "The best that could be done, as far as creating a companion for Didymus, would be to enchant a vixen with human intelligence. I have no experience with such transformative magic, but my grandmother could do it. Even so, it would not work – he has shown himself chivalrously devoted to human women. Likely he would not recognize such a talking beast as his own kind."

Toby shrugged. "The guy seems pretty happy. I mean, he's got his friends, he loves his job, and he gets a kick out of commanding the guard. Not a bad life." He hastened to add, "Not for me – I'm gonna need a girlfriend in the picture somewhere."

"Not the one you're eyeing," Sarah said immediately, and Toby kicked her while Jareth snickered.

"It's not freakin' like that, you sicko," Toby growled. "Della's way outta my league and I know it. I mean a normal human girlfriend – and that is the weirdest sentence that's ever come out of my mouth. Thanks, Sarah, for making 'human' something I have to specify."

"Oh, but what mere mortal teenager could ever hope to compare to one of the loveliest fae queens in history?" Jareth chortled.

"You don't get to twit him about it, you were way too pissed when I told you," Sarah said drolly, eyeing him.

Jareth's reply was deadpan. "Sarah, if I have to watch him fawn over my mother – and watch her think it's cute – then I will harass him until the end of time for it."

She narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to Toby. "I don't approve. But just for that, you can harass him til the end of time for falling absolutely starry-eyed in love with the fifteen-year-old who kicked his ass."

Toby just shrugged. "I was gonna do that anyway."

"Difference is, now I'm not going to stop you," Sarah said, and his eyes gleamed.

Jareth, of course, had to lean toward Toby and say, "Considering that you are fifteen yourself, and not entirely hideous, I'd be careful of implying that my preferences are exclusive to that age." Toby made a face and snorted laughter at that.

Meanwhile, Alix had finished her taco, and asked, "Wait, how many times has Toby been Underground?"

"Twice, if you count when he was a baby," Sarah replied.

Alix just looked at her. "And he is already referring to Queen Cadelinyth of Etaron, Owl's-Daughter, Sorceress of Astolwyr's child, as Della?"

"Well yeah, she's cool like that," Toby said nonchalantly.

Alix's dubious expression said it all, and Sarah groaned. Here we go again. "They met at the coronation. She told him to call her Della – she tells everyone that, at least everyone I've seen."

"I'm sure most of them haven't the balls, or the lack of brains, to take her up on it," Alix shot back.

"Speaking of balls, we're quite lucky my father decided to be gracious, and Toby still has his," Jareth put in.

"Dude, stop making it gross!" Toby snapped, elbowing the King of Umardelin in the side even as he blushed furiously. "You guys all act like I'm humping her leg. She's beautiful. Who wouldn't love her at first sight?"

It was Sarah's turn to snort then, a memory coming immediately to mind. "Well, me, honestly. She showed up two days early and flew up to the window as an owl, making me think she was Jareth, then that I'd just let a wild owl in the castle. When she changed back, I got to meet my future mother-in-law with bed head and morning breath while wearing only one of his shirts. I wanted to die."

There was a pause, and Toby suddenly brayed laughter. "That's what you get for running around a castle like it's your living room!"

Alix, meanwhile, said, "You never told me that. That does explain a lot about your friendship with her."

Toby controlled himself long enough to say, "You met her, right? And you said you swing that way. Isn't she the most drop-dead gorgeous woman you've ever seen?"

It was Jareth's turn to restrain his laughter, while Sarah groaned and dropped her head in her hands. Alix just arched a fine green brow while obviously sorting through her responses. "I prefer my women dark," she finally said, with a glance at Sarah.

"Please, I already have one fae in my sister's life complicating things, I don't need another," Toby replied. "But seriously, Della's awesome. How can anyone not love her?"

Alix said dryly, "When last we spoke, I came very close to striking her. Your lovely queen is not my cup of tea in the least." Toby's eyes widened in disbelief.

"And you have issues, and she has issues, and Toby, it's not for debate," Sarah overrode quickly before this became a much more intense debate. "Please stop mooning over a five-hundred-year-old married woman for a minute."

"On a more serious note," Jareth cut in. "You do realize, Alix, that she will not forget that she owes you recompense for having offended you. And she will not rest until she has somehow made atonement for it."

"Fine. As long as she's brooding over it in Etaron, an ocean away, I don't particularly care," Alix replied brusquely. "I don't want her under my nose or flouncing around my city, potentially kicking off a three-sided war just by existing."

"Dude, she doesn't flounce," Toby protested. "I spent like all of the last two days around her, Della's cool. What is your damage?"

Sarah warned, "Toby, not your business."

But Alix answered, speaking flatly. "I do not like high fae queens. Especially not powerful, beautiful ones who expect everyone to fall at their feet and worship them. Even less those convinced of their righteousness. Such a queen tried to kill me, and is the reason I'm up here. I'd show you the scars, but not while we're eating."

He paused, thoughtful. "Okay, but … you get along with Jareth, and he's her son. He's also powerful and arrogant and he doesn't exactly look like a dwarf. So why don't you hate him too?"

Alix smiled. "I may not lean his way, but I'm still dryad enough to know how to deal with a swinging prick."

Sarah had to tighten her jaw not to laugh out loud, glad she had just swallowed her current bite of food. "As King of Umardelin, I'll forgive that," Jareth said.

At the lordly tone in his voice, Sarah let herself smirk and snark back, "As Queen of Umardelin, I'll note that you don't deny it."

"Which is my point," Alix said. "He is a cocky bastard, and he knows it. She pretends sweetness, and it chokes me."

"She's not – " Toby began, and Alix cut him off.

"You've known her two days, during which time you've clearly been so infatuated you might as well be mildly high. You know nothing."

"Okay, I know her a little more, and the sweetness isn't entirely an act," Sarah said.

"And I have known her all my life. My mother is caring and compassionate," Jareth put in.

"I don't need to know her to know that she's also cunning and manipulative. If you all think she acts entirely without self-interest, you're lying to yourselves," Alix retorted. "The queen gets what the queen wants, I guarantee it. Whether it's by batting her eyelashes or casting a spell or calling out the army matters not to her, so long as she gets her way."

Sarah could only look at Jareth, who was exactly the same. He had the grace to shrug. "Competence does not make her evil. And you get what you want, do you not, Alix? By thinking three steps ahead of everyone else, and being in the right place at the right time, by always doing the right thing but making sure everyone knows you chose to do it."

"You think I have what I want?" Alix asked.

"You'll have a throne eventually, I don't doubt that," Jareth replied. "So long as it's not mine, I would help you. Because I can look past your self-interest and see that your cunning would make you a good queen, and you take exquisite care of your people."

"I did not ask for your aid, Umardelin," Alix replied steadily. "Just as I did not ask for your protection. I will never again be beholden to any king or queen, save the High King himself – and to him I hope to pay my tithe, make my bows, and be ignored."

"Yet you will have our aid and our protection all the same, while all know you protested. One wonders if you are not more subtle and more devious than my mother," Jareth said, arching a brow at her.

She only rolled her eyes, and then Toby spoke up again. "So … I know I'm just the kid in the room, but isn't saying you know Della better than all of us, even though you've only met her once, isn't that pretty much the definition of prejudice?"

Alix stared at him for that, her expression blank, and he gave a shrug. "Would it be that bad to get to know her first? Spend a couple days around her before you judge?"

"If Cadelinyth of Etaron and I spend more than a few hours together, someone is going to wind up dead," Alix said flatly. "Most likely me, and I have a vested interest in not letting that happen. So while I appreciate what you're attempting, the answer is no."

"She wouldn't hurt you," Sarah and Toby said, almost in harmony.

The dryad only chuckled. "I know myself. I do know that I am prejudiced, and that my temper is very short where such as she are concerned. I would eventually force her to retaliate, and given that she is high fae and queen of a powerful kingdom, and I am only a dryad who owns a nightclub Aboveground, there would be only one outcome. I am well aware, as you seem not to be, that the object of your adoration could slay me in one blow, of magic or of blade."

"I would wager my crown that my mother would not harm you, even if provoked," Jareth said. "But it matters not. There will be no occasion to test her restraint and your resolve, Alix. As for myself, enlightening as this luncheon has been, one more question yet remains. Sarah, where is your royal page?"

Sarah groaned; she should've noticed Neesk's silence and absence sooner. As they were all finished eating, the four of them got up to search.

Neesk wasn't in the vent, or in Alix's desk, or on any of the shelves. He didn't respond to Sarah's call, or to Jareth's attempt to summon him by magic. So they took the search out to the club, where it ended quickly.

The taco meats had been served in big aluminum pans, and Neesk was curled up in the one that had held ground beef, snoring. His stomach bulged alarmingly, and Sarah winced to see him. "God, Jareth, he's gonna kill himself like this someday," she muttered.

"No goblin has ever died of overeating or indigestion," Jareth proclaimed. "And I have known them to eat broken glass or metal shavings on a dare."

"Yeah, but I don't wanna be downwind of him until he's done digesting that," Toby put in. "Looks like he ate his weight in taco meat."

"Not all meat," Ojore said, arriving silently at their sides. "He also devoured an entire plate of beans and rice. A mighty appetite, for one so small."

"Beans, too?" Toby laughed. "Yeah, now I don't wanna be upwind of him either."

"He can sleep it off here," Alix said. "You know he'll be safe with me."

Sarah nodded, but leaned over to stroke the sleeping goblin's back until he woke up and looked at her blearily. "We need to go," she told him, remembering how upset he was when he thought she'd forgotten about him. "It'll be boring for you at my parents' place, and you'd have to hide the whole time. Do you want to stay here while you sleep, and then go back to the apartment? I'll be back there tonight."

Neesk blinked, and yawned hugely, exposing more sharp teeth than Sarah even realized he'd had. "Sure. See ya, yer queeniness." And with a last nuzzle against her hand, he dropped back into what was surely the most epic food coma of the century.

"Make sure he's comfortable," Alix told him, Sarah thanking her, and walked their company to the door.

Sarah sighed, looking up at the New York sky. "All right, so we need to go pick up my car, hit the grocer for the cake, and then drive out to Haverstraw. I just hope Karen hasn't made too much of a production of this…"